A RICKETY HAMMOCK 199 



refused to come : the chaprassi and kotwal had both 

 been to fetch them and they all pretended to be 

 asleep and would not be roused. Govind asked 

 what was to be done next and would I come? It 

 was a curious little expedition ; I put on a dressing- 

 gown and a pair of long boots, and Govind gave me 

 a club to look more imposing, and we all went off 

 to a house where, in darkness, about twenty cartmen 

 lay asleep on the floor, and I really think, by their 

 snores and grunts, they were sound asleep by then. 

 The servants called to them arjd I stirred them up 

 with the club and we eventually managed to rouse 

 them, and when they were once awake they seemed 

 quite willing to come. They threw off the logs, 

 loaded up the tents and kit and started off. I 

 waited to see it all done, as the servants thought the 

 work would get on all the faster. 



We arrived at the railway after several marches, 

 where there was a rest house and a real stable for 

 Fanny. When Suki woke next morning he found a 

 snake curled up in a corner of the stable, close to 

 the pony, but he killed it before any harm was done. 



I was going to England and had to leave my 

 Fretful Fanny again. The D.S.P. had been good 

 enough to promise to take care of her for me until 

 I came out to India again, and that she should never 

 be sold, but put an end to if there was ever any 

 occasion. There was occasion : the D.S.P. was 

 ill and invalided home, and the pony developed, I 

 think, asthma and bronchitis, so I never had her 

 with me again, she was shot. I rode her that last 

 day into Akaltara and she was as cheerful and happy 



